Semiconductor vacuum processing apparatuses such as plasma processing systems are used to process substrates by techniques including etching, physical vapor deposition (PVD), chemical vapor deposition (CVD), ion implantation, and resist removal. One type of semiconductor vacuum processing apparatus used in plasma processing includes a reaction chamber containing upper and bottom electrodes. An electric field is established between the electrodes to excite a process gas into the plasma state to process substrates in the reaction chamber.
In the field of semiconductor processing, vacuum processing chambers are generally used for etching and chemical vapor deposition (CVD) of materials on substrates by supplying an etching or deposition gas to the vacuum chamber and application of an RF field to the gas to energize the gas into a plasma state. Examples of parallel plate, transformer coupled plasma (TCP™) which is also called inductively coupled plasma (ICP), and electron-cyclotron resonance (ECR) reactors and components thereof are disclosed in commonly-owned U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,340,462; 4,948,458; 5,200,232 and 5,820,723, which are incorporated herein by reference in their entirety. Because of the corrosive nature of the plasma environment in such reactors and the requirement for minimizing particle and/or heavy metal contamination, it is desirable for the components of such equipment to exhibit high corrosion resistance.
During processing of semiconductor substrates, the substrates are typically held in place within the vacuum chamber on substrate holders by mechanical clamps and electrostatic clamps (ESC). Examples of such clamping systems and components thereof can be found in commonly-owned U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,262,029 and 5,838,529, which are incorporated herein by reference in their entirety. Process gas can be supplied to the chamber in various ways such as by gas nozzles, gas rings, gas distribution plates, etc. An example of a temperature controlled gas distribution plate for an inductively coupled plasma reactor and components thereof can be found in commonly-owned U.S. Pat. No. 5,863,376, which is incorporated herein by reference in its entirety.
A plasma processing system wherein an antenna coupled to a radiofrequency (RF) source energizes gas into a plasma state within a process chamber is disclosed in commonly-owned U.S. Pat. No. 4,948,458, which is incorporated herein by reference in its entirety. In such systems, the antenna is located outside the process chamber and the RF energy is supplied into the chamber through a dielectric window. Such processing systems can be used for a variety of semiconductor processing applications such as etching, deposition, resist stripping, etc.
Aluminum and aluminum alloys are commonly used for walls of plasma reactors. In order to prevent corrosion of the walls, various techniques have been proposed for coating the aluminum surface with various coatings. For instance, commonly-owned U.S. Pat. No. 6,408,786 which is incorporated herein by reference in its entirety, proposes supporting a ceramic tiled liner by a resilient support member such as an elastomeric joint or an elastically bendable metal frame between each ceramic tile in the liner and the chamber sidewall.
With regard to plasma reactor components such as showerhead gas distribution systems, various proposals have been made with respect to the materials of the showerheads. For instance, commonly owned U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,569,356 and 5,074,356, which are incorporated herein by reference in their entirety, disclose a showerhead of silicon, graphite, or silicon carbide.